Marijuana Laws in Alaska
Background
Marijuana was first decriminalized and legalized in Alaska in 1975. It has since been recriminalized and decriminalized several times until being legalized in 2015. Since then, marijuana consumption for both medical and recreational use has been permitted.
Medical Marijuana
Marijuana is legal for either medical purposes or for recreational use. In the event a treatment requires more access than what is allowed under possession laws, written documentation from a physician is mandatory.
Recreational Marijuana
Marijuana use by adult consumers over age 21 is legal.
Possession and Cultivation Limits
When Alaska Ballot Measure 2, which covered marijuana use, was signed into law in 2015, it stipulated that Alaskans 21 years old or older can possess as much as an ounce of cannabis, as well as six plants for non-commercial purposes. No more than three plants can be mature at any given time.
Cultivated plants are not permitted to be visible to the public and must be secure from any unauthorized access. The area where it is grown must legally belong to the grower and violators can be fined as much as $750.
Consumption
Only adults over the age of 21 can consume marijuana in any form. It cannot be consumed in any public places, such as parks, roads, businesses, etc.
Within the limits of current possession laws, private consumption is not restricted. However, homeowners associations may establish their own bylaws that could prevent it from being consumed in the community.
Dispensary Regulations
Dispensaries can be found throughout the state and require, as do all businesses, an operating license. Despite being state legalized, it is possible that specific cities or counties have passed their own mandates criminalizing marijuana. In order to open a dispensary, the license requestor must submit the completed application and pay the associated fees, which depend on the type of business being solicited.
Smoking Marijuana in Public
Adults over the age of 21 can buy and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana at a time. Only licensed retailers can sell marijuana products.
Cannabis DUI
As do alcohol and other drugs, marijuana may impair one’s ability to operate a motor vehicle. It is typically assumed that after two or three hours of consumption it is safe to drive, but this varies greatly from person to person. Also as is the case with alcohol and other drugs, law enforcement officials can arrest someone for a marijuana-related DUI.
Marijuana Taxes
Alaska approved Ballot Measure 2 in 2014 and entered it into law the following year. Included in the measure’s language were provisions for how the production, sale and use of marijuana would be taxed. Currently, the state imposes a tax of $50 per ounce of marijuana bud or flower that is sold or transferred from a cultivation facility to a retail store or manufacturing facility. There is also a tax of $15 under the same circumstances for all other portions of the plant.
Alaska Marijuana News
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